What does playing in a sandbox actually look like?

Imagine two kids in their backyard, playing in a large sandbox under a jungle gym. One of the kids pushes a bunch of sand together into a big mound, then starts to form that mound into a castle. She uses the good damp sand to help hold her structures together and uses tools to compress the sand. Her toy shovel lets her castle walls have a certain smoothness that is very appealing. She builds four towers, each of which has a flat top upon which she can set plastic figures. In the end, she is very happy with her creation, one born of her own mind.
Her friend isn’t quite sure what to do in the sandbox. He has played in sandboxes before but was always unsure. He looks to his friend for guidance. His friend formed a pile so he copied her, building his own pile. Then his friend started forming walls, and so he tried forming walls. Every step along the way, he looked to his friend for guidance, to show him how to play in the sand, and what to build.
It is often similar in D&D. Players want the freedom to play in the metaphorical sandbox game but often don’t know what to do when they get there. This is why so many are content with being railroaded. They learn that the right way to play is to see what is offered by the DM, and to respond instead of create. They wait for input, from the other players and the eager DM, before deciding what their character will do, or even WANTS to do.

Think about how your players approach the game.

So, what wouldn't you allow in your game? What Top Ten things would you as DM not allow in your game? Think about it. Make a list. Then when you are ready to start DMing, throw that list in the garbage.

I should stipulate that I didn't say "who" but "what."

Finishing the Dungeon

Your players skip one door on the first level of a dungeon, for whatever reason. They proceed through the dungeon, level by level, defeating monsters, surviving traps and finding loot. They defeat bosses along the way, and finding the entrances to the new levels proves not particularly difficult. So why do they stop their progress on level four to go back to that level one door? What is it about dungeons that call for a complete cleanout?

What do Evil Temples Look Like?

This is the Luciferian Church, "Seeds of Light" in Colombia. How does "Evil" translate as part of religion in D&D? Is it accepting with a mind for expansion?


Are they pugnacious? Then how would they fit in? This isn't necessarily a hard thing. Just separate the "good" from the "bad." We have the Ogre Kingdom here and the Human Kingdom there. And they fight. 'Nuff said.
Or is it more interesting than that?

Guests During the Game

I am finding that having people "just watch" during my D&D game is very distracting. I don't like telling people that they can't hang.

I posted a video of myself doing some really stupid stuff with a sword.

The DM Questionaire

I put this together for all of us D&D players out there. Would like your best answers for this test.

Just Kill Them, That's What You Want To Do

If, as a player, you think the game should be a totally free sandbox, and you should be free to do whatever you want to do in the game, including violence against the other player characters, then why not just kill off the other PC's? It would be a working strategy to make a buffed Ranger, then kill the other characters, take their stuff, upgrade, and wait for the players to make new characters. Repeat. Your character will get a lot of stuff to sell, left over cash, and XP. Additionally you don't need to worry about dangerous monsters or dungeons. Win-win.

More Ramblings

I wanted to run a game where the players can do whatever they imagine, completely free. This kind of game is often called a sandbox, where players can make whatever they want. It has no railroad, no set path that the players must traverse. I have since learned that such a game is long in coming and may actually be unrealistic.
I have had a player whose not so obvious playing style, his goal in every role playing game, was to manipulate and assassinate the other PCs. The difficulty offered by the game was not enough for him. He wanted the power that the game allows, the ability to screw with other people's PCs, other people's art in a real sense. This player is otherwise a good guy. Yet he will never play in my game again. I have been blessed with better players since.
I believe it is the role of the player to come together with the other players, to cooperate using creativity and innovation, facing the challenges and consequences that the game provides. D&D is also a role-playing game, where players create and play unique heroes, an additional challenge compared to a game such as Monopoly. That is all.